GREAT  AND  IMPORTANT  MEETING 

OF 

DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLICANS, 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Democratic  Republican  Electors  of  the 
City  and  County  of  New- York,  held  at  the  City  Hall,  January 
2d,  183S,  pursuant  to  public  notice,  the  call  having  been  read, 
the  meeting  was-  organized  by  the  appointment  of  the  following 
officers : — 

M.  M.  QUACKENBOS,  President, 


Preserved  Fish, 
James  N.  Wells, 
John  Delamater, 
Henry  P.  Robertson, 
Gideon  Lee, 
Edward  Sandford, 
Andrew  C.  Wheeler, 
Ezra  S.  Conner, 
John  R.  Rhinelander, 
Frederick  A.  Gay, 
Effingham  H.  Warner, 
William  H.  Tyack, 
Daniel  Jackson, 
George  Greer, 
William  Timpson, 
George  Mills, 
Wm.  B.  VanNortwick, 
John  C.  Bergh, 
Cornelius  C.  Jacobus, 

Charles  O'Conner, 
A.  B.  Haxtun, 
S.  Jones  Mumford, 
Eibridge  G.  Stacy, 
A.  0.  Millard, 


VICE  PRESIDENTS. 
Judah  Hammond, 
Joseph  Meeks, 
Samuel  Swartwout, 
Benjamin  C.  Gale, 
William  L.  Morris, 
Levi  Cook, 
Uzal  P.  Ward, 
Benjamin  Birdsall, 
Isaac  Adriance, 
Daniel  Howell, 
Elijah  W.  Nicholls, 
Isaac  Lucas, 

Burr  Wakeman, 

John  G.  Rohr, 

John  J.  Cisco, 

James  Harriott, 

Willett  Seaman, 

Richard  H.  Winslow, 

James  B.  Murray, 

SECRETARIES. 

George  W.  Soule, 
Mortimer  Demott, 
William  A.  Smith, 
Luther  R.  Marsh, 
Edwin  Townsend7 


John  Harlow, 
Isaac  H.  Underhill, 
Henry  Anderson, 
Edward  Jenkins, 
George  Sharpe, 
John  Harris, 
Amos  Palmer, 
Peter  S.  Titus, 
Stuart  F.  Randolph, 
John  R.  Peters, 
Andrew  Lockwood, 
James  D.  Oliver, 
Anthony  Woodward, 
James  C.  Stoneall, 
James  B.  Douglass, 
James  Dusenbury, 
Henry  D.  Gale, 
William  H.  Peck,  and 
Isaac  Townsend. 


Jacob  V.  Carmer, 
Caleb  W.  Lindsley, 
William  WycofF, 
Jacob  S.  Baker, 


The  following  Resolutions  were  presented  and  unanimously 
adopted : — 

1 .  Resolved — That  the  present  crisiscalls  upon  theDemocratic 
Repuhlican  party  to  erect  the  standard  of  Jefferson  and  Madi- 
son, and  to  proclaim  and  reinstate  the  principles  of  '98  ;  to  frown 
upon  every  effort  to  engraft  novel  doctrines  upon  the  great  "es- 
sential principles"  established  by  those  patriarchs  of  democracy, 
and  to  maintain  uncompromising  hostility  against  all  disturbing 
financial  measures  of  government,  and  against  all  radical  and 
destructive  doctrines  and  sentiments. 

2.  Resolved — That,  in  a  Republic,  it  is  essential  to  the  liberty, 
safety,  and  happiness  of  the  citizen,  that  the  government  and  its 
officers  should  receive  their  rule  of  action  from  the  people;  that 
when  this  vital  principle  ceases  to  operate,  when  the  convenience 
of  the  many  is  disregarded  or  made  subservient  to  political  am- 
bition and  self  interest,  it  becomes  a  public  duty  to  bring  the  ad- 
ministration back  to  first  principles,  to  guard  against  future  en- 
croachments, and  by  cherishing  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  curbing 
that  of  licentiousness,  to  secure  at  once  the  stability  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  prosperity  of  the  people. 

3.  Resolved — That  the  past  history  of  our  country  strikingly 
illustrates  the  truth  of  the  declarations  of  Washington  "that 
the  foundations  of  our  national  policy  ought  to  be  laid  in  the 
pure  and  immutable  principle  of  private  morality."  That  "there 
is  no  truth  more  thoroughly  established,  than  that  there  exists  in 
the  economy  and  course  of  nature,  an  indissoluble  connection 
between  the  genuine  maxims  of  an  honest  and  magnanimous 
policy,  and  the  solid  rewards  of  public  prosperity." 

4.  Resolved — That  the  course  of  the  administration  which  has 
so  deeply  and  suddenly  affected  the  financial  condition  of  the 
nation,  and  placed  the  general  government  in  an  attitude  of  open 
hostility  to  the  institutions  of  the  States  and  the  business  inte- 
rests of  the  people,  and  which  is  now  coupled  with  an  effort  to 
unite  in  effect  the  sword  and  the  purse,  evinces  the  existence 
and  predominating  influence  in  our  national  councils,  of  a  spirit 
which  has  greatly  endangered  and  threatens  to  subvert  our  re- 
publican form  of  government,  our  social  institutions,  and  indi- 
vidual happiness. 

5.  Resolved — That  the  scheme  of  destroying  all  state  institu- 


3 


tions  which  has  been  deliberately  formed,  and  which  is  now  dis- 
tinctly and  boldly  avowed  as  an  "ulterior  object"  which  is  so 
systematically  and  perseveringly  followed  in  despite  of  popular 
suffrage,  will,  if  successful,  virtually  annihilate  the  State  sove- 
reignties, cast  the  whole  power  over  the  institutions  and  business 
of  the  country,  into  the  hands  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, and  accomplish  the  ultra  federal  design  of  consolidation, 
thereby  practically  establishing  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
States. 

6.  Resolved — That  the  sub-treasury  scheme  is  an  important 
feature  in  the  accomplishment  of  these  "ulterior  objects."  That 
we  have  seen  no  reason  to  dissent  from  the  declaration  of  the 
government  press  in  1834,  stigmatizing  it  as  a  measure  "disor- 
ganizing and  revolutionary;  subversive  of  the  principles  of  our 
"government,  and  of  its  entire  practice  from  1789  to  this  day, 
"and  which  will  incalculably  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Execu- 
tive and  expose  the  public  treasure  to  be  plundered  by  an  hun- 
"dred  hands  where  one  cannot  now  reach  it." 

7.  Resolved — That  we  cannot  regard  with  greater  favour  the 
proposed  substitution  of  a  special  deposite  for  the  sub-treasury 
scheme,  both  contemplate  the  same  odious  principle  of  hoarding 
the  precious  metals,  and  shutting  them  out  from  circulation 
among  the  community  to  whom  they  rightfully  belong — produc- 
ing violent  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  labour  and  value  of  pro- 
perty, making  an  invidious  distinction  between  the  currency  of  the 
People  and  that  of  their  Servants,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  former, 
and  we  believe  that  the  disapprobation  of  these  measures,  just 
expressed  by  the  democratic  State  of  Georgia,  will  be  followed 
by  an  immense  majority  of  the  great  republican  family  in  the 
Union. 

8.  Resolved — That  any  system  of  national  finance  which 
leaves  the  public  treasure  under  "  the  liberal  supervisory  powers 
of"  any  individual,  or  which  has  for  its  foundation  "  the  volun- 
tary principle  "  recommended  by  the  Executive,  is  unwise  and 
inexpedient,  and  greatly  harassing  and  vexatious  to  the  People. 

9.  Resolved—  That,  since  the  "  ulterior  object "  of  annihilating 
the  "Stale  Institutions  and  destroying  the  paper  currency  of  the 
People  has  been  avowed,  we  look  upon  the  late  recommendation 
of  a  Bankrupt  Law  applicable  to  "  Corporations  and  other  Bank- 


4 

ers  "  as  an  effort  to  bring  the  business  interests,  and  of  the  people 
under  the  control  of  the  Federal  Government.  That  on  this 
subject  we  fully  concur  in  the  declarations  made  by  the  Honour- 
able Martin  Van  Buren,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  year  1826,  when  opposing  the  adoption  of  a  similar  project : 
that  "  now  the  attempt  is  to  be  made,  if  not  in  an  open  and  une- 
u  quivocal  manner,  at  least  in  an  indirect  way,  to  strip  the  States 
u  of  the  power  of  chartering  Banks.  That  it  interferes  with  the 
il  regulations  which  the  States  may  have  adopted  for  the  govern- 
"  ment  of  these  institutions,  and  is  an  odious  exercise  of  power 
u  not  granted  by  the  "  constitution,  and  that  this  was  never  done 
u.  and  never  attempted  in  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe." 

10.  Resolved — That  we  distinctly  trace  the  War  upon  our 
State  institutions  to  the  doctrines  promulgated  in  this  city  in 
1829,  by  a  faction,  of  which  Robert  Dale  Owen,  a  disciple  of 
Fanny  Wright,  was  leader,  among  the  most  prominent  of  which 
were  the  necessity  of  "  a  civil  revolution  which  would  leave 
"  behind  it  no  trace  of  any  government  that  had  not  provided 
"for  every  human  being,  an  equal  amount  of  property  on  arriv- 
uing  at  the  age  of  maturity,  and  during  minority,  equal  food, 
u  clothing,  and  education,  at  the  public  expense,"  and  which 
would  totally  subvert  the  existing  "  unequal  appropriation  and 
"  transmission  to  posterity  of  the  soil  of  the  State  and  banking 
"  institutions,  as  the  great  cause  of  the  existing  unhappy  con- 
dition of  society,"  and  that  the  proper  means  of  relief  was  "  the 
election  of  men  who,  from  their  own  sufferings,  know  how  to 
feel,  and  from  consanguinity  of  feeling  would  be  disposed  to 
afford  the  remedy. 

11.  Resolved — That  the  Democratic  Republican  party,  or- 
ganized by  our  Fathers,  and  as  we  maintain  it,  has  no  principles 
in  common  with  these  Destructives,  whether  pursuing  their  "  ul- 
terior objects  "  under  their  various  names  of  "  workingmen's  par- 
ty," "  anti-monopoly  party,"  "  equal  rights  party,"  or  "  loco-foco 
party."  That  their  dangerous  designs  were  held  in  merited  con- 
tempt, until  some  leading  portions  of  their  policy  were  declared 
governing  principles  of  the  federal  administration,  and  some 

consanguinity  of  feeling  "  was  exhibited  from  high  official  sta- 
tions. 

12.  Resolved— That  we  observed  with  pain  and  regret  that 


5 


portion  of  the  late  message  of  the  President  which  refers  to  the 
recent  elections  and  attempts  to  explain  the  result.  That  we  deem 
it  due  to  the  character  of  the  citizens  of  this  State,  and  to  the 
great  cause  of  self  government,  to  declare  that  the  President  has 
been  in  that  respect  grossly  mistaken,  and  in  his  delusion  has 
cast  an  unfounded  reproach  upon  the  citizens  of  his  native  State, 
and  unwarrantably  impeached  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of 
an  enlightened  and  incorruptible  people. 

13.  Resolved — That  we  highly  approve  of  the  firm  and  inde- 
pendent stand  taken  by  the  Honorable  N.  P.  Tallmadge,  and 
his  compatriots  in  the  senate,  in  defending  the  rights  and  pros- 
perity of  our  citizens  against  the  various  experiments  of  these 
"new  lights"  in  government  finance  and  political  orthodoxy, 
whose  brief  sway  of  the  party  organization  has  produced  such 
general  embarrassment  in  the  business  concerns  of  the  people, 
and  involved  the  administration  in  pecuniary  and  political  bank- 
ruptcy. 

14.  Resolved — That  those  representatives  in  Congress,  who 
have  been  officially  denounced  for  daring  to  vindicate  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  public  faith,  and  advocate  the  protection  of  private 
property,  who  deeming  absolute  aequiesence  in  the  will  of  the 
executive,  or  ot  his  counsellors,  to  be  a  rule  of  despotic  govern- 
ment, and  not  a  portion  of  the  Democratic  Republican  creed, 
have  preferred  the  dictates  of  justice  and  conscience  in  coinci- 
dence with  the  manifest  interests  and  plainly  expressed  will  of 
the  people,  to  the  smiles  of  executive  favor  and  the  encomiums 
of  the  loco-focos,  are  entitled  to  the  highest  confidence  and  en- 
during gratitude  of  the  people. 

15.  Resolved — That  we  approve  the  talent,  zeal,  and  fidelity 
which  has  marked  the  course  of  the  Madisonian,  and  recommend 
it  to  the  support  of  our  republican  fellow  citizens  through  the 
Union. 

16.  Resolved — That  the  various  experiments  made  during 
the  last  few  years  to  improve  our  currency  and  enlarge  our  spe- 
cie circulation,  have  ended  in  the  derangement  of  one,  and  the 
total  disappearance  of  the  other.  That  the  present  sufferings  of 
the  people  demand  the  application  of  practical  sense,  and  the  les- 
sons of  experience  to  our  financial  legislation,  and  the  retraction 


t  6 

of  steps  hastily  taken  on  which  experience  has  shown  to  have 
been  unwisely  adopted. 

17.  Resolved — That  the  attempt  to  stifle  discussion,  and 
prevent  the  heresies  of  those  in  power  from  being  exposed  to  the 
public  view,  by  excluding  the  meeting  of  Democratic  Repub- 
licans from  Tammany  Hall,  notwithstanding  the  consent  of  the 
proprietor,  and  the  approbation  of  the  officers  of  the  Democratic 
Republican  General  Committee  was  first  obtained,  is  an  addition- 
al evidence  of  the  audacious  and  proscriptive  spirit  which  cha- 
racterises the  destructives,  and  of  their  determination  to  pros- 
trate liberty  of  speech  and  thought. 

18.  Resolved — That  the  act  of  excluding  this  meeting*  from  a 
place  where  most  of  us  have  spent  our  political  lives,  receives  ad- 
ditional and  fearful  importance  from  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
produced  by  the  unwarrantable  interference  of  Custom  House 
Officers,  in  the  pay  of  the  Treasury  Department,  and  pourtrays 
the  dangers  which  are  justly  apprehended  from  a  further  exten- 
sion of  executive  patronage,  in  colors  stronger  than  language 
can  express. 

19.  Resolved — That  we  call  upon  our  fellow  citizens  through- 
out the  State,  to  sever  all  connection  with  the  loco  focos,  and  to 
rally  under  the  old  banner  of  Democratic  Republican  principles. 

20.  Resolved — That  a  General  Committee  of  Vigilance  and 
Correspondence,  consisting  of  three  members  from  each  Ward, 
be  forthwith  appointed,  with  power  to  confer  with  our  brethren 
in  the  country,  to  call  future  meetings,  to  aid  in  procuring  an 
organization  in  the  several  wards,  and  to  adopt  such  other  mea- 
sures as  may  tend  most  effectually  to  arrest  the  progress  of  radi- 
calism, and  maintain  the  ascendancy,  and  perpetuate  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Democratic  Republican  party. 

The  following  persons  were  appointed  to  form  the  said  Com- 
mittee. 

GENERAL  COMMITTEE. 
1st  Ward — Benjamin  C.  Gale,  Thomas  W.Wells,  John  R.Peters. 
2d  Ward— Willett  Seaman,  George  C.  Baldwin,  Henry  D.  Gale. 
3d  Ward — John  W.  Degraw,  William  Tyack,  William  Timpson. 
4th  Ward — Elijah  W.  Nichols,  Mortimer  De  Mott,  Abraham  R. 
Van  Nest. 

5th  Ward— Joseph  Meeks,  John  G.  Rohr,  John  Harlow. 


7 


6th  Ward — Oliver  Woodruff,  Isaac  Adnance.  Jacob  S.  Baker. 
7th  Ward — Levi  Cook,  John  J.  Cisco,  James  C.  Stoneall. 
8th  Ward — Ezra  S.  Connor,  C.  C.  Jacobus,  Elbridge  G.  Stacy. 
9th  Ward— Richard  B.  Fosdick,  Wm.  L.Morris,  Garrett  Gilbert. 
10th  Ward— M.  M.  Quackenbos,  Wm.  H.  Peck,  Peter  S.  Titus. 
11th  Ward — Jeremiah  Dodge,  George  Willis,  John  Heeney. 
12th  Ward — John  Harris,  Andrew  Sitcher,  Charles  H.  Hall. 
13th  Ward— E.  D.  Comstock,  George  W.  Youle,  Andrew  Mills. 
14th  Ward — Alfred  Stoutenburg,  John  R.  Rhinelander,  Edwin 
Town  send. 

15th  Ward — Frederick  A.  Gay,  E.  H.  Warner,  Isaac  Lucas. 
16th  Ward — James  N.  Wells,  John  Delamater,  James  Flannagan. 
17th  Ward — James  B.  Murray,  Edward  San  ford,  Isaac  H.  Un- 
derbill. 

Resolved — That  the  officers  of  this  meeting  be  a  Committee 
to  prepare,  forthwith,  and  publish  An  Address  to  the  Democratic 
Republican  Electors  of  the  State  of  New- York,  in  conformity 
with  the  resolutions  just  adopted. 

Resolved — That  Messrs.  Winslow,  Sanford,  Gay,  and  Jenkins 
be  a  Committee  to  publish  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  to- 
gether with  the  Address  and  Resolutions. 

The  officers  of  the  meeting  adopted  the  following 

ADDRESS 

TO  THE  DEMOCRATIC  REPUBLICAN  ELECTORS  OF  THE 
STATE  OF  NEW-YORK. 

Fellow  Citizens! 

On  ordinary  occasions  the  Democratic  Republican  Electors 
of  the  City  and  County  of  New- York  would  not  take  the  liberty 
of  addressing  you  upon  the  deeply  interesting  questions  of  our 
party  politics  and  public  government.  The  events  of  the  last 
three  years  have  placed  the  Democratic  Republican  party,  to 
which  we  are  attached,  in  a  situation  highly  perilous  and  critical ; 
involved  the  commerce,  navigation,  manufactures,  and  internal 
trade  of  the  country,  in  the  deepest  embarrasments,  and  inflicted 
the  most  unparalleled  suffering  and  protracted  distress  throughout 
our  once  prosperous  and  happy  land. 

In  the  midst  of  a  profound  and  universal  peace  among  nations, 
in  the  possession  of  all  our  former  resources,  and  surrounded  by 


8 


all  the  elements  of  our  former  enjoyment,  we  have  been  thrown 
into  convulsions  violent  and  unnatural,  precipitated  through  long 
suffering  into  an  abyss  of  ruin,  from  which  issues  forth  nothing 
but  a  long  train  of  evils  and  misery.    In  conjunction  with  these 
affecting  calamities,  and  deeply  connected  with  them  as  a  pri- 
mary and  aggravating  cause,  the  spirit  of  radicalism  made  its 
open  appearance,  elevating  its  voice  of  destruction  over  the  awful 
ruin,  and  demanding  sudden  and  extensive  changes  of  public 
policy  in  matters  vitally  concerning  all  members  of  society.  The 
further  manifestations  of  the  same  spirit  has  led  to  an  organiza- 
tion of  a  new  party,  and  the  publication  of  rules  of  faith  and 
practice,  not  known  to  the  old  Democratic  Republican  principles 
and  usages,  has  endangered  the  Republican  principle,  threatened 
the  destruction  of  institutions  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  civi- 
lized society,  and  alarmed  our  citizens  for  the  safety  of  "  that 
state  of  property,  whether  equal  or  unequal,  which  results  to 
every  man  from  his  own  industry,  or  that  of  his  fathers."  Du- 
ring the  early  part  of  the  period  to  which  we  have  referred,  these 
dangerous  feelings  and  sentiments  were  confined  to  a  compara- 
tively few  individuals  in  the  city  of  New- York,  who  have  main- 
tained for  several  years  a  species  of  seperate  organization,  and 
acted  politically  with  or  against  the  Democratic  Republican 
party,  as  the  means  of  best  subserving  their  own  interests  dicta- 
ted.   Previonsly  to  the  year  1834  they  had  been  known  as  the 
workingmens'  party,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  through 
the  organization  of  a  Trades  Union,  they  procured  a  partial  share 
in  the  honours  of  representation,  at  the  hands  of  the  Democratic 
Republican  party. 

Our  fellow  citizens  entertained  but  little  apprehension  of  the 
general  prevalence  of  radical  and  destructive  sentiments  in  the 
community  at  large,  and  the  confident  belief  that  these  danger- 
ous doctrines  could  never  reach  the  elevated  places  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  nation,  until  individuals,  distinguished  for  their  hos- 
tility to  many  of  our  civil  institutions  and  the  sacred  rites  of  re- 
ligion, were  chosen  and  installed  as  public  legislators  in  our 
State  and  National  councils. — Thus  honoured,  and  receiving 
character  through  the  errors  committed  by  the  Democratic  Re- 
publican party,  and  deriving  subsequently  some  countenance 
for  a  portion  of  their  sentiments  from  the  State  and  National  ad- 
ministrations, "the  equal  rights"  party  openly  endeavoured  to 


9 


assume  the  lead,  and  make  their  dogmas  the  creed  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Republican  faith.  That  our  fallow  citizens  may  under- 
stand whither  we  are  tending,  while  being  drawn  ihto  this  new 
vortex  of  revolution,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to  place  briefly  before 
them  the  declared  designs  of  radicalism,  that  the  "ulterior  objects" 
of  the  present  movements  maybe  foreseen,  and  circumvented  by 
the  people.  In  the  year  1329  the  radicals  of  this  city,  organizing 
then  as  "the  world ugmens'  party,"  declared  themselves  "against 
Banks,  Auctions,  Charters,  Exemptions  of  Church  and  Priests' 
property  from  taxation."  and,  in  their  published  report  at  that 
time,  call  for  the  abolition  of  Banks,  and  furnish  a  plan  which 
may  have  been  the  basis  of  the  sub-treasury  scheme  of  our  own 
day.  They  declare  against  the  existence  of  wealth,  against  the 
laws  of  inheritance  by  which  property  is  to  be  transmitted  to 
posterity,  and  demand  a  civil  revolution,  that  no  trace  may  be 
left  of  a  government  which  has  denied  to  every  human  being  an 

EQUAL  AMOUNT   OF  PROPERTY  OX  ARRIVING  AT  THE  AGE  OF 

maturity,  and  previous  thereto,  equal  food,  clothing  and 
instruction  at  tke  public  expense.  They  call  our  citizens 
"robbers  and  plunderers,"  who  deny  to  them  the  equal  en- 
joyment of  the  "materials  of  nature,  which"  they  declare  to  be 
"  the  common  and  equal  right  of  all."  They  propose  to  accom- 
plish this  "civil  Revolution,"  by  electing  men  "who,  from  con- 
sanguinity of  feeling  will  be  disposed  to  do  all  they  can  to  afford 
a  remedy." 

These  were  no  secret  proceedings  of  a  band  of  conspirators 
against  liberty  and  happiness,  but  the  open  sentiments  of  a  pub- 
lic meeting,  composed  of  many  of  the  men  afterwards  forming 
the  "equal  rights,"  and  now  the  "loco  foco  party,"  and  having 
entire  "consanguinity  of  feeling,"  with  the  loco  foco  party  of  the 
present  day  ! 

Fellow  Citizens !  we  have  maintained  a  faithful,  vigorous,  and 
for  a  time,  we  hoped,  a  successful  war  against  these  innovations. 
The  Democratic  Republicans  met  them  hand  to  hand,  and  over- 
threw them  on  the  memorable  occasion  of  their  lighting  their 
torches,  and  obtaining  their  distinctive  name  of  loco  foco,  and 
triumphed  in  the  election  of  an  unpledged  Democratic  Republi- 
can ticket.  Entertaining  a  generous  disposition  at  all  times  to 
conciliate  without  sacrificing  our  principles,  to  promote  the  suc- 

2 


LO 


cess  of  our  political  party,  we  have  since  at  times  endeavored  to 
bring  the  loco  focos  to  the  principles  and  usages  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Republican  party,  and  without  surrendering  our  princi- 
ples, or  betraying  our  cause  to  maintain  its  political  ascendancy. 
These  various  efforts  have  established  the  conviction  on  our 
minds,  of  the  utter  and  irreconcilable  difference  between  Demo- 
cratic Republicanism  and  loco  focoism !  We  have  uniformly 
found  them  acting  in  bad  faith  towards  us,  and  our  candidates, 
when  professing  union  and  concord:  promoting  the  election  of 
their  own  candidates,  and  striking  off  the  names  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Republicans  on  the  same  ticket,  and  presenting  the  extra- 
ordinary spectacle  of  a  state  of  war  against  us,  while  we  were 
under  a  treaty  of  peace  with  them. 

While  this  contest  between  the  antagonist  principles  of  Demo- 
cratic republicanism  and  loco  focoism  has  continued  unabated, 
but  by  our  efforts  to  conciliate,  occasional  advantages  have  been 
gained  by  the  loco  focos,  and  their  numbers  have  become  en- 
larged by  the  addition  of  those  who  are  studious  of  the  current 
of  executive  favour,  from  the  similarity  traced  between  some  ex- 
ecutive communications  and  portions  of  their  declared  senti- 
ments. 

These  occasional  coincidences  have  been  greeted  by  the  loco 
focos,  as  evidences  of  "consanguinity  of  feeling"  on  the  part  of 
the  distinguished  authors,  but  not  credited  as  such  by  the  great 
body  of  our  fellow  citizens  until  the  past  autumn. 

When  the  first  message  of  the  president  was  communicated  to 
Congress,  and  published  through  the  land,  that  document  was 
hailed  by  the  loco  focos  as  the  mirror  of  their  doctrines  and  feel- 
ings, they  hastened  to  assemble  at  their  established  place  of 
meeting  in  this  City  to  express  the  approbation  "of  the  whole 
genuine  democracy,"  "of  a  governmental  system  of  finance  foun- 
ded exclusively  upon  the  constitutional  currency  "  gold  and  sil- 
ver," and  pledged  themselves  to  rally  around  and  uphold  the 
present  administration  "  in  the  speedy  restoration  of  a  gold  and 
silver  currency."  The  journal  published  in  this  city  which  was 
looked  to  as  the  fountain  of  ultra  loco  focoism  recognized  in  the 
avowal  of  principles  and  recommendation  of  measures  of  that 
message,  the  principles  which  that  paper  had  uniformly  and 
zealously  asserted,  and  honoured  the  President  by  expressing 
great  joy  to  find  them  repeated  from  the  representative  of  the 


)  1 

American  people. — And  yet  this  journal,  claiming  to  he  the  origi- 
nal source  of  the  "principles  and  measures"  of  the  first  message, 
had  never  claimed  to  he  a  supporter  of,  or  been  recognized  by 
the  Democratic  Republican  party! 

Had  the^President  in  the  first  message  expressly  designed  to 
secure  the  favour  and  support  of  the  loco  focos,  instead  of  pre- 
senting himself  -in  the  attributes  which  can  win  the  affections 
of  the  American  people  and  command  the  respect  of  the  world," 
he  could  not  probably  have  gained  more  applause  from  the  loco 
focos,  or  more  surprised  the  great  mass  of  his  fellow  citizens! 

We  have  been  active  and  zealous  in  effecting  the  advance- 
ment of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation  to  his  present  elevated 
station.  Many  of  us  have  been  devoted  to  his  political  interests, 
and  entertained  personal  regard  and  attachment  towards  him  in 
less  prosperous  political  seasons,  and  in  early  days  of  little  pro- 
mise. We  entertained  the  hope  and  expectation  that  the  Presi- 
dent would  come  to  the  administration  of  the  general  govern- 
ment in  a  magnanimous  spirit,  that  he  would  check  the  tenden- 
cy to  depart  from  the  old  established  principles  and  land  marks 
of  the  Republican  party,  that  he  would  adhere  to  the  Republican 
principles  avowed  by  Jefferson  and  Madison,  as  the  basis  of 
their  respective  administrations,  and  in  so  far  as  we  might  have 
"deviated,  in  concessions  to  the  loco  focos,  would  hasten  to  re- 
gain the  road  which  alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty  and  safety." 

We  participated  in  the  general  surprise  and  disappointment 
with  which  the  first  message  was  received.  We  found  measures 
recommended  for  the  special  and  immediate  action  of  Congress, 
which,  in  our  judgement,  were  not  calculated  to  aid  the  country 
in  its  distress,  but  on  the  contrary,  to  increase  the  difficulties  and 
aggravate  the  existing  disorders.  These  measures  hacTnot  been 
demanded,  except  by  the  loco  focos,  these  comprising  a  very 
small  part  of  the  great  body  of  our  fellow  citizens,  and  we  avail- 
ed ourselves  of  the  recommendation  of  the  President,  and  gave 
the  subject  "  a  J hill  and  free  discussion?  At  an  early  period 
after  the  publication  of  the  first  message,  we  assembled  in  public 
meeting  and  made  known  the  results  of  liour  dispassionate  com- 
parison of  opinions.^ 

In  regard  to  the  sub-treasury  scheme  and  the  national  bank- 
rupt law,  applicable  solely  to  incorporations  and  bankers,  we 
could  not,  as  consistent  Democratic  Republicans,  concur  in  the 


12 


recommendations  of  the  President,  and  accordingly  published 
our  dissent  to  the  world.  Without  entering  into  a  particular  ex- 
amination of  the  merits  of  these  propositions  in  this  place,  it  will 
suffice  to  remark  that  the  sub-treasury  scheme  was  originally  an 
opposition  project,  introduced  to  the  attention  of  Congress  in 
1834,  and  then  disapproved  of  unqualifiedly  by  General  Jackson 
and  his  Cabinet,  by  Vice  President  Van  Buren,  and  all  the  De- 
mocratic members  of  Congress ;  and  the  opposition  of  Senator 
Van  Buren  to  the  bankrupt  law  of  1826,  and  his  declaring  its  in- 
terference in  the  regulations  of  the  State  governments  "  was  an 
odious  exercise  of  povier  not  granted  by  the  constitution"  was 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  his  acts  which  secured  to  him  the 
favour  and  confidence  of  the  Democratic  Republican  party. 

From  the  avidity  with  which  the  President's  first  message  was 
received  by  the  loco  focos,  and  adopted  as  a  faithful  exposition 
of  the  views  for  which  they  contended,  and  from  a  perfect  know- 
ledge of  the  total  difference  between  Democratic  Republicanism 
and  loco  focoism,  and^a  firm  belief  that  "  uncompromising  and 
unqaltfied  hostility  "  to  loco  focoism  is  demanded  by  "  the  hon- 
or and  interests  of  the  country."  We  have  seen  with  deep  anx- 
iety and  deep  regret  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the  national 
Executive  to  persist  in  his  course,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to 
give  the  predominance  to  that  faction  in  whose  hands  our  citizens 
are  convinced  there  would  be  neither  safety  to  the  public  insti- 
tutions, nor  protection  to  private  property  and  personal  freedom. 

We  have  shown  to  you  the  designs  of  some  of  these  deluded 
men  in  the  year  1829,  and  we  know  them  personally  ;  and  theirs 
is  the  general  character  of  the  factious,  the  turbulent  and  discon- 
tented in  every  free  country.  They  are  chiefly  idle  and  unem- 
ployed, or  filling  small  offices,  and  chiefly  profligate  in  their  per- 
sonal lives,  having  little  to  lose  in  property  and  nothing  to  hurt 
in  conscience.  We  cannot  better  illustrate  the  insecurity  of  Re- 
publican Institutions  and  the  danger  of  individual  liberty  and 
property  in  their  hands,  than  by  reference  to  their  proceedings 
at  a  public  meeting  held  last  spring  in  the  Park  of  this  city. 
They  were  called  together  by  handbills,  posted  in  various  parts 
of  the  city,  bearing  prominent  inscription  of  the  catch  words  used 
by  their  party,  "the  friends  of  equal  rights,"  "opposed  to  all 
monopolies  and  special  legislation,"  "in  favour  of  a  separation 
of  Bank  and  State."    After  passing  a  series  of  resolutions  propo- 


13 


sing  to  abolish  all  laws  for  the  enforcement  of  contracts,  the  as- 
semblage proceeded  in  a  body  to  the  vicinity  of  the  large  ware- 
houses of  domestic  produce,  and  there  sacked  several  stores  in 
open  day,  in  defiance  of  the  civil  authorities,  and  exhibited  a 
scene  of  public  riot,  lawless  violence,  and  wanton  destruction  ! 

Can  we,  who  have  witnessed  this,  be  soothed  into  a  state  of 
insensibility  to  our  danger  as  Republicans  and  Citizens.  When 
we  behold  the  common  principles  and  sentiments  of  these  men 
" repeated  from  the  representative  of  the  American  people?" 
"When  we  behold  the  current  of  official  confidence  and  commu- 
nication addressed  to  the  leaders  of  these  wretched  men,  and 
when  by  the  new  interpretation  of  old  rules,  and  new  glosses 
upon  exploded  doctrines  and  theories,  a  systematic  and  deliberate 
effort  is  making  to  create  what  in  practice  we  believe  will  be 
found  to  be  a  strong  consolidated  Anti-Republican  and  irresisti- 
ble executive  government?  In  the  name  of  Jiberty  we  answer 
no  !  We  have  yet,  fellow  citizens,  our  rights  and  our  elective 
franchise,  and  we  trust  that  we  shall  not  J^e  deterred  from  the 
use  of  the  one  for  the  protection  of  the  other  ! 

In  view  of  this  situation  of  the  Democratic  Republican  party, 
we  feel  called  upon  to  express  our  sentiments  with  deliberation 
and  fidelity,  and  to  summon  those  who  with  us,  in  embracing 
the  Democratic  Republican  faith,  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
defence  of  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people,  against  the 
invasions  of  licentiousness  and  the  encroachments  of  usurpation, 
to  erect  the  standard  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  and  rally  on 
the  old  land  marks  of  principle.  We  have  chosen  and  placed  in 
power  Democratic  Republican  Rulers,  who  will  not  be  unfaithful 
to  their  principles,  if  our  political  brethren  remain  true  to  them- 
selves. In  a  government  founded  by  the  people  for  their  own 
benefit,  and  by  the  Constitution  of  which  the  will  of  the  people 
is  the  paramount  law,  with  frequent  elections  and  vote  by  ballot, 
there  is  little  reason  to  apprehend  that  any  portion  of  our  rulers 
will  continually  disregard  the  demands  of  the  public  interests,  or 
insult  the  majesty  j  question  the  capacity  for  self  government  and 
intelligence,  or  impeach  the  integrity  of  the  people.  In  other  Re- 
publics instances  have  occurred  in  which  the  mere  creatures  of 
the  people's  will,  raised  by  their  voice  to  high  stations,  have,  in 
the  plenitude  of  their  power,  forgotten  the  source  and  foundation 
of  their  greatness,  and  swayed  an  iron  sceptre  over  the  people. 


i  [ 


These  innovators  gained  power  by  small  additions,  disclaiming 
all  wish  to  possess  it,  while  the  eager  hand  was  stretched  forth 
to  grasp  it,  and  endeavouring  to  show  that  each  new  demand 
was  but  a  shade  different  from  that  before  acquired,  until  the 
very  shadow  of  freedom  was  lost  in  the  increasing  gloom  of  des- 
potism. Kings  have  "refused  their  assent  to  laws  the  most 
wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  public  good,"  and  our  ancestors 
threw  of  the  yoke  imposed  upon  their  necks  by  such  a  grievance ; 
but  we  have  no  petty  tyrants  in  the  growth  of  this  soil  of  freedom 
"  to  fatigue  us  into  a  compliance  with  their  measures  "  or  to  pre- 
vent our  assembling  "  to  oppose  with  manly  firmness  all  inva- 
sions on  the  rights  of  the  people." 

We  declare  ourselves  friends  of  human  liberty  to  the  utmost 
extent  compatible  with  protection,  and  friends  of  the  Constitu- 
tion administered  upon  Democratic  Republican  principles,  re- 
garding the  People  as  the  sole  and  safe  depository  of  all  power, 
principles,  and  opinions  which  are  to  direct  the  government. 
We  proclaim  an  incessant  hostility  to  despotism  and  tyranny  in 
any  and  every  shape,  whether  ruling  with  a  dictatorial  and  im- 
perious sway  by  a  single  autocrat,  or  by  directing  and  controlling 
a  strict  party  organization  with  bitter  and  persecuting  intoler- 
ance. We  avow  independence  of  mind,  freedom  of  thought, 
freedom  of  discussion,  "the  arraignment  of  all  abuses  at  the  bar 
of  public  reason,"  as  the  essential  attributes  of  freedom;  and  the 
civil  and  moral  obligation  of  all  citizens  to  "  improve  their  reason 
and  obey  its  mandates"  as  the  only  safeguard  in  a  Democratic 
Republican  Government. 

We  have  witnessed  many  evidences  that  the  practice  under 
our  government  is  an  invasion  of  the  theory;  that  public  senti- 
ment is  looked  for  from  our  rulers  instead  of  from  the  people  ; 
that  the  views  of  leaders  have  been  made  to  control  the  party  in- 
stead of  the  views  of  the  party  having  controlled  the  leaders; 
that,  in  an  appalling  crisis,  when  general  alarm  and  anxiety  pre- 
vailed and  the  general  enquiry  has  been  from  citizen  to  citizen 
"  what  can  we  do  to  restore  the  prostrate  honour  of  the  country?" 
some  have  delayed  an  expression  of  their  opinion  and  said  "  let 
us  wait  until  the  message  of  the  president  appears  and  then 
we  shall  knoxo  what  to  do !  That  when  considering  the  means 
of  best  promoting  the  general  welfare  and  advancing  the  great- 
est good  to  the  whole,  others  have  enquired  what  the  President 


15 


might  think  and  not  what  the  People  demanded  or  would  ap- 
prove. We  have  witnessed  occasions  in  which  some  of  the  re- 
presentatives of  the  people,  coming  fresh  from  their  constituents, 
thrilling  with  their  feelings  and  burning  under  the  sense  of  their 
dishonour  and  the  discredit  of  our  beloved  country,  in  the  gen- 
erous fervor  of  their  hearts,  have  honestly  blamed  some  errors 
and  faithfully  disapproved  of  some  measures  "their  consciences 
did  not  sanction  ;"  and  we  have  since  seen  in  the  columns  of  a 
journal  claiming  to  be  "  distinguished  by  the  present  confidence 
of  the  Administration,"  laboriously  endeavouring  to  destroy  these 
individuals  and  strip  from  them  the  confidence  and  support  of 
the  People!  Such  things  were  not  practised  in  the  name  of 
the  Democratic  Republican  party  in  the  early  history  of  the  Re- 
public. 

Permit  us  briefly  to  advert  to  the  first  course  of  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  general  government,  and  to  the  origin  of  the  De- 
mocratic Republican  party  of  the  nation  to  ascertain  the  princi- 
ples upon  which  they  were  based,  and  to  enable  us  to  define  our 
political  course  hy  the  rules  of  well  settled  authority  and  success- 
ful experience. 

General  Washington  was  elected  the  first  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  had  been  the  President  of  the  Convention 
which  framed  the  Consitution.  He  commenced  his  administra- 
tion by  declaring  to  Congress  that  "the  welfare  of  our  country  is 
the  great  object  to  which  our  cares  and  efforts  ought  to  be  di- 
rected." He  early  congratulated  the  representatives  of  the  Peo- 
ple upon  the  fertility  of  our  resources  ;  the  increase  of  national 
respectability  and  credit ;  and  bore  honorable  testimony  to  the 
patriotism  and  integrity  of  the  mercantile  and  marine  portion  of 
our  citizens,  declaring  that  "  the  punctuality  of  the  merchants 
in  discharging  their  engagements  had  been  exemplary."  He 
further  declared  that  uniformity  in  the  currency  of  the  United 
States  is  an  object  of  great  importance  and  ought  duly  to  be  at- 
tended to,  and  that  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures 
ought  to  be  advanced  by  all  proper  means. 

He  was  succeeded  by  John  Adams,  under  whose  administra- 
tion there  was  a  manifest  tendency  to  enlarge  the  Executive 
powers  of  the  general  government,  to  encroach  upon  the  rights 
of  the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  to  hold  up  a 
consolidated  and  overshadowing  central  government.    In  oppo- 


t 


16 

sition  to  this  course  of  things,  to  counteract  this  tendency  of  the 
general  government  and  to  maintain  and  defend  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  of  the  People,  the  Democratic  Republicans  of '98 
united  as  a  political  party  and  elevated  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Their  designs  and  desires  were  to  limit  the  general  govern- 
ment to  the  external  relations  of  the  States  and  foreign  nations, 
and  to  the  mutual  internal  relations  of  the  States,  protecting 
the  rights  of  the  States  against  consolidation,  and  through  the 
separate  State  sovereignties,  protecting  the  persons,  reputations 
and  property  of  the  Citizens. 

The  inauguration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  took  place  in  1801,  and 
his  address  on  that  occasion  embodies  forth  the  great  essential 
principle  of  our  government  as  contended  for  by  the  Democratic 
Republicans  of  his  time,  and  which  Mr.  Jefferson  declared 
ought  to  shape  its  administration."  We  embraced  these  princi- 
ples in  early  life;  we  have  made  them  the  rule  of  our  faith  and 
the  cement  of  our  political  union,  and  we  here  declare  an  inflexi- 
ble determination  to  maintain  them  in  their  purity,  and  to  defend 
them  in  their  excellence,  as  "the  sum  of  good  government." 
We  describe  them  on  the  pages  of  this  address,  and  a  just  senes 
of  their  deep  importance  and  solemn  truth  will  cause  them  to 
sink  deep  into  your  minds. 

Jefferson  declares  these  great  "essential  principles"  to  be 
"equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever  state  or  per- 
suasion, religious  or  political :  peace,  commerce,  and  honest 
friendship  with  all  nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none  ;  the 
support  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights  as  the  most 
competent  administrations  for  our  domestic  concerns,  and  the 
surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican  tendencies ;  the  preser- 
vation of  the  general  go vern merit  in  its  whole  constitutional 
vigor,  as  the  sheet  anchor  of  our  peace  at  home,  and  safety 
abroad :  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the  people  ;  a 
mild  and  safe  corrective  of  abuses  which  are  lopped  by  the 
sword  of  revolution  where  peaceable  remedies  are  unprovided ; 
absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority,  the  vital 
principle  of  republics,  from  which  is  no  appeal  but  to  force,  the 
vital  principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism ;  a  well  dis- 
ciplined militia  our  best  reliance  in  peace  and  for  the  first  mo- 
ments of  war,  till  regulars  may  relieve  them ;  the  supremacy  of 
the  civil  over  the  military  authority ;  economy  in  the  public  ex- 


r? 


pense,  that  labor  may  be  lightly  burdened,  the  honest  payment 
of  our  debts,  and  the  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith  ;  en- 
couragement of  agriculture  and  of  commerce  as  its  handmaid, 
the  diffusion  of  information,  and  the  arraignment  of  all  abuses  at 
the  bar  of  the  public  reason — freedom  of  the  press,  and  free- 
dom of  the  person  under  the  protection  of  the  Habeas  Corpus, 
and  trial  by  juries,  impartially  selected.  "  These  principles  "  says 
the  immortal  Jefferson,  "  Form  the  bright  constellation  which 
has  gone  before  us,  and  guided  our  steps  through  an  age  of  rev- 
olution and  reformation.  The  wisdom  of  our  sages  and  blood 
of  our  heroes,  have  been  devoted  to  their  attainment.  They 
should  be  the  creed  of  our  political  faith,  the  text  of  civic  in- 
struction, the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the  services  of  those 
we  trust,  and  should  we  wander  from  them  in  moments  of  error 
or  of  alarm,  let  us  hasten  to  retrace  our  steps  and  regain  the  road 
which  alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety." 

Here  we  have  given  to  us  the  great  land  marks  of  Republican- 
ism, "  the  creed  of  our  political  faith,  the  Touchstone  by  which 
to  try  the  services  of  those  we  trust/'  and  "  he  who  is  not  with 
us  is  against  us,"  and  against  the  publicly  declared  principles  of 
Thomas  Jefferson. 

In  the  messages  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  Congress  he  declares  that 
"  agriculture,  .manufactures,  commerce,  a nd  navigation,  are  the 
four  great  pillars  of  our  prosperity,"  and  states  that  "  protection 
from  casual  embarrassments  may  sometimes  be  seasonably  inter- 
posed." Mr.  Jefferson  was  always  happy  to  commit  the  affairs 
of  our  government  to  the  collected  wisdom  of  the  nation,  and 
pledged  himself  to  carry  the  legislative  judgment  into  execution, 
and  tendered  his  cordial  concurrence  in  every  measure  for  the 
public  good.  Mr.  Jefferson  also  stated,  that  "  he  looked  to  Con- 
gress for  the  measures  of  wisdom  which  the  great  interests  of  the 
country  committed  to  them  demanded,"  and  "gave  them  the 
opportunity  of  providing  the  means  which  he  was  to  execute" 
He  submitted  to  Congress  whether  "  the  great  interests  of  agri- 
culture, commerce,  navigation,  and  manufactures,  could  be  aided 
in  their  relations,  and  whether  any  thing  could  be  done  to  ad- 
vance the  general  good  as  within  the  limits  of  the  functions  of 
Congress."  And  he  assured  the  representatives  of  the  people 
that  in  "  all  matters  which  Congress  might  propose  for  the  good 
of  our  country,  they  might  count  on  his  hearty  co-operation  and 

3 


L8 


faithful  execution/'  Mr.  Jefferson  assumed  the  administration 
of  the  Executive  (not  Legislative  and  Executive)  department, 
and  promised  co-operation  with  Congress  in  every  measure  that 
might  tend  to  secure  the  liberty,  property,  and  personal  safety  of 
our  fellow  citizens.  "  To  their  wisdom"  Mr.  Jefferson  "  looked 
for  the  course  he  was  to  pursue^'  and  declared  that  "  he  would 
pursue  with  sincere  zeal  that  which  they  should  approve." 

These,  fellow  citizens,  were  the  Republican  practices  of  Tho- 
mas Jefferson  in  the  administration  of  the  government  of  the  na- 
tion for  eight  years.  In  them  we  behold  a  faithful  exposition  of 
the  great  ''essential  principles''  declared  at  the  commencement 
of  his  presidential  term,  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  Republican 
principle  in  his  unlimited  confidence  in,  and  attachment  to,  the 
representative  government,  and  a  just  sense  of  the  Democratic 
character  of  our  government  in  his  frank,  incessant  and  unquali- 
fied devotion  to  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  all. 

We  look  in  vain  to  the  messages  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  for  any  indi- 
cations of  a  fancied  superiority,  on  his  part,  in  devotion  to  the 
constitutional  and  to  the  performance  of  the  proper  functions  of 
his  office,  over  the  representatives  of  the  people,  or  charges  im- 
plying doubts  of  the  capacity  or  integrity  of  the  people  in  the 
management  of  their  private  affairs  or  public  interests,  or  any 
alledged  superiority  in  competency  and  fidelity  of  the  officers  of 
the  federal  government  over  their  fellow  citizens,  to  keep  and 
disburse  the  public  revenue :  or  any  urging  of  specific  measures 
not  emanating  from  the  people  or  their  representatives,  by  the 
whole  weight  of  executive  influence,  or  any  "  forcing  of  bless- 
ings upon  the  people"  against  their  will,  and  convictions  of  pub- 
lic benefit. 

During  the  period  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  we 
had  banks,  and  we  had  a  paper  currency,  and  the  government 
received,  and  the  banks  kept  the  public  money  in  the  same  cur- 
rency, that  the  people  had  always  used ;  and  yet  we  do  not 
find  in  the  messages  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  any  suggestion,  that,  had  the 
extension  of  the  Banking  system  been  foresee!:,  it  would  proba- 
bly have  been  guarded  against  by  the  framers  of  the  constitution, 
or  that  the  same  policy  which  led  to  the  prohibition  of  bills  of 
credit  by  the  States,  would  have  also  interdicted  their  issues  as 
a  Currency  in  any  other  form,  or  that  it  would  be  an  evi- 


19 


dence  of  "  intelligence  and  virtue,"  on  the  part  of  the  people  to 
abandon  them,  or  that  "  the  federal  government  would  promote 
the  aceompiishment  of  that  important  object  /" 

We  do  not  find  in  the  messages  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  any  qustion 
of  the  propriety  of  the  government's  receiving  and  using  the 
same  money  with  the  people,  or  of  the  people's  using  their  mo- 
ney, until  it  was  wanted  by  the  government  for  their  own  pur- 
poses, or  any  proposition  "  to  return  to  the  constitutional  cur- 
rency of  Gold  and  Silver,''  or  any  mention  made  of  a  seperation 
of  "Bank  and  State,"  or  the  necessity  of  the  discrediting  bank 
paper,  or  any  wish  manifesting  to  urge  on  the  people  to  "  un- 
tried expedients." 

Mr.  Jefferson  needs  no  eulogy  at  our  hands,  as  the  bold  and 
eloquent  supporter  of  human  liberty,  and  the  rights  of  man. 
The  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  has  not  yet  been 
cast  so  far  into  the  shade,  by  the  discoveries  of  his  successors  in 
the  great  science  of  political  freedom,  as  to  require  us  to  brush 
away  any  mists  before  the  resplendent  glory  of  his  political  life 
and  public  sentiments. 

Mr.  Jefferson  viewed  the  government  of  the  United  States  as 
belonging  to  the  people,  and  not  the  people  as  belonging  to  the 
government.  He  viewed  the  office  of  President  as  an  execu- 
tive office,  to  carry  the  legislative  judgment  into  execution, 
that  Congress  were  to  propose  matters  for  the  good  of  our  Coun- 
try, and  that  he  was  faithfully  to  execute  them. 

Under  this  Jeffersonian  form  of  administering  the  government, 
the  great  measures  of  the  people's  interests,  the  people's  wants, 
and  the  people's  wishes,  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  their  im- 
mediate representatives  in  Congress  chosen  by  them  for  that 
purpose,  being  among  them,  feeling  and  enjoying  their  prospe- 
rity, or  suffering  their  adversity,  subject  to  their  instructions, 
and  accountable  to  them  for  their  public  acts.  To  this  body, 
thus  happily  formed  to  accomplish  the  great  ends  of  a  good 
government,  the  constitution  has  secured  to  our  citizens,  the 
sacred  right  of  petition  and  of  application  for  redress  and  re- 
lief. 

During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  there  were  ca- 
lamities suffered  by  the  country,  bearing  heavily  upon  the  in- 
dustry, the  interests,  and  happiness  of  large  classes  of  citizens. 
Applications  were  made  to  the  Executive  and  Congress  of 


20 


the  nation  lor  relief,  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  under 
which  our  citizens  laboured,  and  the  measures  of  the  general 
government,  capable  of  bearing  upon  them  and  promoting  the 
public  welfare,  were  freely  and  publicly  discussed  by  our  citi- 
zens, without  any  consideration  of  how  far  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple might  or  might  not  accord  with  the  will  of  their  executive 
servants;  the  people  spoke  their  sentiments  without  "waiting 
for  messages  of  the  President,"  and  if  the  people  happened  to  dif- 
fer with  their  executive  officer,  their  was  no  official  journal 
to  denounce  them  as  corrupt,  and  no  longer  Democratic  Repub- 
licans. 

Hence,  we  do  not  find  in  the  administrations  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
any  indications  that  the  complaints  of  the  people  are  offensive  to 
the  Executive  ;  or  that  the  people  are  too  restive  under  their  bur- 
thens ;  or  any  executive  admonition,  that  "  communities  are  apt 
to  look  to  government  too  much,  or  any  special  reprimand  to  the 
people  of  our  own  country,  declaring  them  especially  "prone  to 

do  SO." 

Mr.  Jefferson  entertained  great  doubts  whether  our  organi- 
zation was  not  too  complicated  and  too  expensive  ;  whether  offi- 
cers and  offices  had  not  been  multiplied  unnecessarily  and  in- 
juriously, and  he  began  the  reduction  "  that  it  might  never  be 
seen  here,  that,  after  leaving  to  labour  the  smallest  portion  of  its 
earnings  on  which  it  can  subsist,  government  itself  shall  con- 
sume the  residue  of  what  it  was  intended  to  guard."  And  we 
hear  of  no  applications  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  create  a  multitude 
of  new  offices,  and  to  quarter  upon  us  large  bodies  of  office  hold- 
ers to  "take  from  the  mouth  of  labour  the  bread  it  has  earned." 

During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  the  State  sovereign- 
ties created  banks  and  passed  such  acts  of  special  legislation,  as  ap- 
peared to  them  best  calculated  to  promote  the  public  welfare,  and 
we  do  not  find  any  assaults,  or  any  open  or  covert  efforts  to  de- 
stroy, or  assume  the  control,  ("through  the  liberal  supervisory 
powers  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,")  and  Bankrupt  laws  of 
the  State  institutions.  Mr.  Jefferson's  views  of  "equal  rights,  equal 
laws,  and  equal  justice,"  were  not  so  far  affected  by  these  acts 
of  the  people,  through  their  representatives,  as  to  induce  him  to 
make  mention  in  his  messages  of  the  existence  or  tendency  of 
this  state  of  things;  and  the  discovery  of  these  alleged  violations 
has  been  made  by  later  patriots  and  philanthropists,  who  claim 


21 


a  more  "genuine  democracy r'  thon  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  the 
Republicans  of  '98.  Mr.  Jefferson  regarded  the  Union  and  Con- 
stitution of  government  of  the  United  States  as  a  Federal  Repub- 
lic, and  claimed  to  be  a  Republican;  and  in  his  messages  we 
find  the  sound  and  just  views  of  a  Federal  Republican  recognizing 
and  giving  just  effect  to  the  Democratic  principle,  but  not  the 
1  doctrines  of  Democracy  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word.' 

We  have  thus  called  your  attention  to  what  was,  and  what 
was  not  Democratic  Republicanism,  in  the  days  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson's administration,  and  of  the  foundation  of  our  political 
party. 

Mr. Madison  succeeded  to  the  Presidential  chair,  and  through- 
out all  his  messages  we  find  the  same  Republican  views  of  the 
Executive  character  of  his  situation,  and  of  the  power  and  duty 
of  Congress  to  provide  the  means,  and  of  his  constant  wish  to 
be  instrumental  in  promoting  the  welfare,  happiness  and  pros- 
perity of  the  country,  that  characterized  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Jefferson;  and  his  public  life  and  writings  form  a  monu- 
ment of  what  constituted  Democratic  Republicanism  in  his  day, 
alike  imperishable  and  glorious. 

These  principles  and  practices,  avowed  and  executed  by  Jef- 
ferson and  Madison,  form  the  essential  principles  of  Demo- 
cratic Republicanism  to  which  we  have  ever  been,  and  still  are, 
firmly  attached.  They  have  given  fortitude  to  faith,  and  pa- 
tience to  hope,  in  seasons  of  adversity ;  and  crowning  success  to 
our  political  efforts.  But  the  faction  to  which  we  have  called 
your  attention,  are  ambitious  of  power  and  hope  to  accomplish 
their  objects  by  inflaming  the  desires  of  the  people  for  change. 
The  struggles  of  these  members  of  society  would  but  little  effect 
the  great  social  compact,  unaided  by  other  causes;  but  our  citi- 
zens suffer  a  misfortune  at  the  same  time  in  the  agitations  caused 
by  the  government  of  the  nation.  Our  Republic  having  been 
founded  in  compromises,  contains  some  exceptionable  features, 
when  separately  compared  with  abstract  standards,  and  these  as- 
sumed patriots  and  would-be  exclusive  friends  of  the  people, 
seize  on  these  points,  and  would  rudely  tear  them  from  the  struc- 
ture, even  though  they  should  bring  down  the  temple  of  liberty 
on  our  heads.  We  would  stay  their  mad,  destructive,  and  ruin- 
ous efforts.  We  feel  as  Democratic  Republicans  and  Citizens, 
that  the  sacred  fire  of  freedom  and  the  last  hope  of  Republican 


22 


Institutions  are  deeply  and  finally  committed  to  the  American 
people  We  were  organized  as  a  political  party  in  support  of 
what  Jefferson  termed  "the  essential  principles"  of  our  govern- 
ment. 

If  we  falter  in  their  support,  if  we  suffer  ourselves  to  be  drawn 
from  the  ground  which  we  originally  occupied,  we  peril  our  sa- 
cred trust  and  jeopard  the  holy  cause  of  freedom  and  self-gov- 
ernment. We  ought  not,  we  will  not  be  guilty  of  such  acts  of 
parricide ! 

We  have  read  the  second  message  of  the  President,  and  are 
free  to  declare,  that  we  do  not  find  in  his  perseverance  and  ad- 
ditional suggestions  in  relation  to  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme,  any 
thing  to  remove  the  weighty  objections  and  appaling  danger 
which  destroyed  it  with  the  Republican  party  in  1834.  when  it 
was  brought  forward  as  an  opposition  measure.  We  cannot  dis- 
cover in  it  any  more  friendly  or  less  dangerous  features,  because 
it  is  now  brought  forward  by  a  man  whom  we  have  supported. 
It  was  the  principle  and  not  the  source  of  the  project  that  caused 
the  Democratic  Republicans  to  repudiate  it,  and  we  cannot  now 
support  the  unchanged  principle  because  it  comes  from  a  differ- 
ent set  of  men.  Principles  are  in  their  nature  immutable,  and 
as  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme  was  an  opposition  principle  in 
1834,  we  cannot  admit  or  believe  it  to  be  Democratic  Republic- 
anism in  1838. 

We  oppose  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme,  either  generally,  or 
in  the  special  deposite  form  suggested  as  a  substitute,  not  only 
from  the  many  objections  in  principle  to  be  urged  against  each, 
as  shifting  the  balance  of  the  Constitution,  but  also  because  it  is 
brought  forward  as  the  great  antagonist  of  the  credit  system,  and 
its  effects  contemplate  the  destruction  of  the  credit  system. 

We  are  in  favour  of  the  credit  system  because  it  is  the  pecu- 
liar offspring  of  liberty,  and  we  oppose  the  sub-treasury  hard 
money  scheme,  because  hard  money  is  "  the  constitutional  cur- 
rency of  all  despotic  governments.  We  support  the  credit  system 
because  it  is  essentially  Democratic,  equal  and  universal ;  we 
oppose  the  hard  money  sub-treasury  scheme  because  solid  wealth 
is  exclusive  in  its  character,  and  never  circulates  among  masses 
We  support  the  credit  system  because  it  is  genial  to  liberty ;  we 
oppose  the  hard  money  sub-treasury  project  because  it  is  aristo- 
cratic in  its  tendency.    We  support  the  credit  system  because  it 


23 


gives  to  activity,  enterprise,  and  merit,  an  equal  footing  and 
chance  of  success  with  realized  wealth,  and  we  oppose  the  hard 
money  sub-treasury  scheme  because  it  would  check  competition, 
build  up  strong,  enduring,  and  overshadowing  business  houses, 
and  destroy  the  Republican  features  of  our  government.  We 
support  the  credit  system  because  the  people  have  framed  it,  and 
are  identified  with  it,  and  we  oppose  the  hard  money  sub-treasury 
scheme  because  it  is  hostile  to  the  interests  and  against  the  ex- 
pressed wishes  of  the  people. 

We  are  in  favour  of  the  credit  system  because  it  is  friendly  to 
the  laborer  and  producer,  and  scatters  its  blessings  upon  the  poor 
man  as  well  as  the  rich.    We  oppose  the  hard  money  sub-trea- 
sury scheme  because  it  would  make  large  and  princely  fortunes 
for  the  now  wealthy,  and  degrade  the  middle  and  laboring  citi- 
zens to  the  condition  of  their  slaves.    We  are  in  favour  of  the 
credit  system  because  by  it  the  poor  farmer  is  enabled  to  obtain 
his  lands  and  implements  of  husbandry,  the  poor  mechanic  his 
instruments  of  art  and  stock  in  trade,  the  laboring  man  his  daily 
wages  and  constant  employment,  and  every  man  who  bears  a 
tolerable  character,  coupled  with  industry,  has  a  certain  means 
of  bettering  his  condition.    We  oppose  the  sub-treasury  scheme 
because  it  will  cramp  the  energies  and  blast  the  happiness  of  our 
people.    We  support  the  credit  system  because  it  has  been  the 
great  lever  of  our  advancement  as  individuals,  and  as  a  nation,  in 
wealth  and  prosperity.   It  has  enabled  us  to  pay  off  an  immense 
national  debt,  covered  our  lands  with  fertile  fields,  thriving  vil- 
lages, towns,  and  cities ;  constructed  canals,  rail  roads,  and  man- 
ufactories ;  increased  commerce  and  navigation,  and  in  the  short 
space  of  half  a  century,  elevated  our  youthful  nation  to  an  equal 
station  with  the  Kingdoms  of  ages  in  the  old  world. 

We  oppose  the  hard  money  scheme,  because  examples  derived 
from  Monarchies  are  not  models  for  Republican  imitation,  and 
while  we  look  upon  the  splendour  of  Kings,  Princes,  and  Nobles 
of  Europe,  and  the  "gold  glittering  through  the  silken  meshes  of 
their  purses,"  we  behold  the  chains  of  slavery  upon  their  poor 
degraded  people.  We  support  the  credit  system  because  it  is  a 
part  of  the  great  legacy  of  freedom  and  happiness  transmitted  to 
us,  with  our  political  rights,  by  our  ancestors,  and  we  oppose  the 
sub-treasury  scheme  because  it  is  "  disorganizing  and  revolution- 
ary, subversive  of  the  principles  of  our  government,  and  of  its 


24 


entire  practice  from  17S9  to  this  day."  We  oppose  the  sub-trea- 
sury scheme  because  it  will  plant  a  new  phalanx  of  tax-gather- 
ers among  the  people,  drawing  from  them  by  the  strong  arm  of 
Executive  power,  their  hard  earnings  and  hard  money,  leaving 
to  the  people  on  whom  they  fatten,  a  naked  subsistence,  and  a 
broken  currency.  We  oppose  the  sub-treasury  scheme  because  it 
will  add  another  cohort  to  the  army  of  officers  of  the  general 
government  now  quartered  upon  the  people,  disturbing  their  de- 
liberations in  public  assemblies,  interfering  with  and  destroying 
the  purity  of  their  elections,  and  attempting  to  overawe  all  ex- 
pressions of  dissatisfaction  with  the  measures  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment. We  oppose  the  sub-treasury  scheme  because  it  will 
incalculably  " enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Executive,"  unite  the 
sword  and  purse  in  his  hands,  contrary  to  the  intent  and  spirit 
of  the  Constitution,  endanger  the  safety  of  the  public  money, 
and  "expose  it  to  be  plundered  by  an  hundred  hands  where 
one  cannot  now  reach  it."  We  oppose  the  sub-treasury  scheme 
because  it  is  destructive  of  the  industry,  enterprise,  prosperity, 
happiness,  and  independence  of  the  people  ! 

Since  this  scheme  has  received  an  official  and  executive  coun- 
tenance from  the  departments  of  the  general  govenment,  elec- 
tions have  been  held  in  several  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  at 
which  the  candidates  were  supported  on  the  grounds  of  favour 
or  opposition  to  this  dangerous  project,  and  the  ballot  boxes 
have  proclaimed  with  a  decisiveness  unexampled  in  our  history, 
the  attachment  of  the  people  to  their  own  institutions,  and  their 
settled  convictions  against  the  measure.  "Absolute  acquiescence 
in  the  will  of  the  majority  is  the  vital  principle  of  Republics," 
and  the  sub-treasury  scheme  has  been  submitted  to  this  JerTer- 
sonian  touch-stone  and  found  wanting. 

We  have  referred  to  the  origin  of  the  sub-treasury  scheme  to 
show  that  it  was  never  a  measure  of  the  Democratic  Republican 
party,  and  to  include  this  forlorn  hope  of  the  oppositton  in  the 
articles  of  Republican  faith,  it  has  been  lately  for  the  first  time 
contended  that  whatever  shall  be  recommended  by  the  executive 
chosen  by  one  party  must  be  supported  by  the  Democratic  Re- 
publicans as  a  part  of  their  political  creed  !  We  warn  you  fel- 
low citizens  against  this  dangerous  attempt  upon  your  own 
liberty  and  the  freedom  of  your  country  !  To  submit  to  this  is 
to  sacrifice  independence  of  mind,  freedom  of  thought,  freedom 


25 


of  discussion,  freedom  of  conscience,  and  liberty  of  the  will;  to 
sacrifice  all  the  great  principles  of  freedom  for  which  the  pil- 
grims braved  the  perils  of  the  ocean  and  sought  an  asylum  in 
the  savage  wilderness  ;  to  yield  up  all  the  manly  attributes  for 
which  our  ancestors  declared  their  independence  and  waded 
through  the  blood  of  the  revolution,  and  surrender  a  glorious 
birthright,  without  receiving  even  a  "mess  of  pottage.''  But, 
we  thank  Heaven,  fellow  citizens,  that  it  has  not  yet  come  to  this; 
we  can  yet  hold  our  servants  accountable  for  their  political  opi- 
nions and  public  conduct  to  the  sovereign  people,  and  the  peo- 
ple are  not  yet  subjected  to  arraignment  for  their  sentiments  and 
conduct  at  the  charge  of  their  public  servants. 

Fellow  Citizens, — Is  it  not  time  that  these  agitating  and  ab- 
sorbing questions  should  be  quieted  and  composed?  Cannot  the 
people  purchase  their  peace,  and  stay  the  agitating  arm  of  Gov- 
ernment, which  rocks  and  shakes  the  social  fabric  and  business 
affairs  of  our  country  to  their  foundations,  without  surrendering 
their  liberties  and  institutions?  It  was  generally  supposed  before 
the  meeting  of  Congress  at  the  present  session,  that  the  recent 
elections  had  settled  the  sub-treasury  scheme,  on  the  JefTersonian 
rule  of  acquiescence,  in  the  will  of  the  majority.  The  President, 
in  his  last  message,  has  deemed  it  proper  to  look  behind  the  bal- 
lot-box, and  to  judge  of  the  causes  which  brought  the  people  to 
the  polls,  and  the  motives  and  inducements  which  gave  or  with- 
held the  votes,  and  to  decide  that  the  people  have  not  really  spo- 
ken. However  eager  we  may  suppose  the  advocates  of  the  sub- 
treasury  scheme  to  be,  to  escape  the  conviction  of  having  totally 
mistaken  the  character  of  the  people,  we  were  not  prepared  by 
any  previous  Republican  example,  for  any  attempt  to  overrule 
or  adjust  the  decision  of  the  people  through  the  ballot  box. 
Much  less  did  we  anticipate  that  the  patriotism  and  integrity  of 
our  citizens  were  to  be  impeached,  their  purity  and  intelligence 
questioned,  or  the  sentiment  proclaimed  that  the  executive  ser- 
vants and  representatives  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  were  not 
to  be  influenced  by  the  suffrages  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  of 
the  State  of  New- York !  It  is  due  to  the  character  of  the  citi- 
zens of  this  State,  and  not  less  to  the  Republican  institutions  of 
our  country,  to  declare  that  the  President  in  his  last  message,  in 
respect  to  our  late  election,  and  the  cause  assigned  by  him  for 
the  result,  has  adopted  a  most  unfounded  and  wanton  libel  upon 

4 


26 


our  citizens  of  all  political  parties,  only  worthy  of  its  original 
source  in  the  official  paper.  We  regretted  this  not  only  because 
a  citizen  of  our  own  State  had  been  induced  to  credit  the  infamous 
charge,  but  because  we  think  it  indicates  that  accurate  informa- 
tion of  the  state  of  public  feeling  and  sentiment  is  most  unrigh- 
teously kept  from  the  first  magistrate  of  the  nation. 
t  Having  assembled  to  express  our  sentiments  to  you  in  candor 
at  a  time  when  the  people  are  "  bound  in  sackcloth,"  and  hum- 
bled in  the  dust  of  adversity,  convulsion  and  ruin  ;  and  when 
a  proposition  is  strenuously  urged  which  will  put  upon  the  Ser- 
vants of  the  People  a  golden  livery,  we  cannot  refrain  from  ask- 
ing of  your  reason  and  judgment,  whether  the  federal  govern- 
ment can  stand  exonerated  from  all  participation  in  producing 
the  distresses  which  the  People  are  suffering?  Whatever  other 
circumstances  may  have  existed,  we  believe  that  the  financial 
embarassments  and  pecuniary  distress  have  been  highly  aggrava- 
ted and  protracted  by  the  course  of  the  executive  department  in 
respect  to  the  currency. 

Let  us  look  at  the  condition  of  the  People  of  the  United  States 
before  the  system  of  experimenting  commenced: — were  we 'not 
the  most  free,  the  most  prosperous,  the  most  fully  employed  and 
happy  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe?  In  what  other  country 
in  the  wide  expanse  of  the  universe,  was  the  condition  of  the 
jk)or,  the  mechanical,  laboring,  and  producing  citizens,  so  thriv- 
ing, so  untrammelled  and  free  ? 

We  have  experienced  since  a  series  of  measures  of  govern- 
ment and  finance  attended  with  distress,  suffering,  and  want ; 
depriving  the  poor  of  their  employment,  the  manufacturer  of  his 
purchaser,  and  closing  up  with  general  public  and  private  bank- 
ruptcy. The  highest  prosperity  has  been  suddenly  changed  to 
the  lowest  adversity,  the  greatest  happiness  to  the  greatest  suf- 
fering and  misery,  the  greatest  abundance  to  need  and  want. 
And  for  what  purpose  have  we  been  enduring  evils  more  fearful 
and  suffering  more  agonizing  than  the  distresses  of  a  state  of  war. 
Has  it  been  to  prepare  us  for  an  "  untried  expedient.  ?"  Who 
shall  answer  to  us  for  its  success?  Who  shall  save  us  from  bthe 
ruinous  consequences  of  its  failure.? 

We  are  opposed  to  the  "  untried  expedient,"  in  both  the  Sub- 
Treasury  and  "  Special  Deposit "  forms.    We  are  opposed  to 


27 

all  separation  and  all  discrimination  between  the  government 
and  the  people. '  L 

We  still  recognise  the  people  as  constituting  the  government, 
and  the  money  the  people  use  and  receive  from  each  other,  they 
will  receive  again  from  v the  government.  We  avow  ourselves 
hostile  to  any  plan  which  imposes  a  condition  that  the  public 
dues  shall  be  received  and  disbursed  in  gold  and  silver  only,  as 
unnecessarily  and  oppressively  tyrannical  and  arbitrary. 

Fellow  Citizens — the  crisis  calls  upon  us  to  speak  like  free- 
men !  There  is  an  urgency  and  haste  in  forcing  this  hard  mo- 
ney measure  so  "  subversive  of  the  principles  of  our  government " 
upon  our  representatives,  which  indicates  a  fear  of  the  returning 
wave  of  popular  indignation.  The  public  feeling  on  this  "dis- 
organising and  revolutionary  measure "  is  awakened,  and  the 
torrent  cannot  be  resisted.  The  effort  to  check  its  expression, 
will  but  add  power  to  the  current,  and  the  rights,  liberty,  and 
happiness  of  the  people,  will  be  preserved  through  their  vigilance. 

While  calling  your  attention  to  matters  of  public  interest,  we 
beg  leave  to  direct  your  attention  to  a  few  topics  within  our  own 
state.  We  apprehend  that  there  has  been  a  departure  from  the 
strict  republican  principle  in  one  of  the  practices  here,  which 
in  calling  your  attention  to  the  old  land  marks,  is  worthy  of  no- 
tice. The  Republican  Candidates  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant 
Governor,  were  originally  nominated  by  the  Republican  Members 
of  the  Legislature,  and  they  published  an  address  to  the  Electors 
in  connection  with  their  proceedings.  The  movement  of  the 
people  in  the  year  1824,  caused  an  abandonment  of  the  Legisla- 
tive Caucus,  to  make  the  nominations,  and  a  State  Convention 
was  called  in  the  year  1826,  for  that  purpose,  and  has  continued 
to  be  the  mode  of  selecting  candidates  for  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  for  the  Democratic  Republican  party.  The 
Republican  Members  of  the  Legislature,  although  no  longer  per- 
forming the  office  of  selecting  candidates,  have  continued  to  put 
forth  an  address  to  the  electors,  and  have  made  the  calls  for  the 
state  conventions.  We  submit  to  you  whether  this  is  not  an  in- 
verson  of  principle,  and  causing  the  rule  of  party 'action  to  come 
from  the  servants  instead  of  the  people.  These  legislative  ad- 
dresses have  been  generally  framed  with  the  aid  of  but  few  in- 
dividuals, and  adopted  by  the  mass  of  members,  without  the 
opportunity  of  an  examination,  and  have  afterwards  been  held 


28 


to  contain  the  standard  of  political  orthodoxy  until  the  succeeding 
year  should  bring  forth  another  test  of  political  principle  and 
measure  of  political  conscience.  It  appears  to  us  that  the  dele- 
gates of  the  people  chosen  for  the  purpose,  and  assembled  in 
convention,  are  the  competent  and  only  appropriate  Democratic 
Republican  body,  to  make  known  their  sentiments  and  intentions. 
We  hold  the  Representatives,  individually,  accountable  to  the 
people,  and  would  have  each  man  answer  for  himself  to  his  con- 
stituents ;  but  we  would  not  have  the  people  answer  to  their  rep- 
resentatives, or  to  any  set  of  men,  for  their  own  views  and  con- 
duct. We  recommend  this  subject  for  your  investigation  and 
reflection,  and  tender  our  concurrence  in  the  opinions  of  the  ma- 
jority of  our  Republican  fellow  citizens. 

The  currency  of  our  State  is  also  in  a  deplorable  condition, 
demanding  the  early  action  of  the  people,  through  their  repre- 
sentatives. Our  citizens  are  compelled  by  necessity  to  receive 
and  use  as  the  common  medium  of  circulation,  the  small  bills 
issued  by  foreign  corporations,  while  the  banks  of  our  own  State 
are  prohibited  by  law  from  supplying  our  citizens  with  this  es- 
sential part  of  the  currency  at  the  present  period.  The  exclu- 
sion of  the  small  notes  of  our  own  State  operates  injuriously 
upon  all,  and  subjects  us  to  taxation  in  the  interest  upon  the 
circulation  to  our  Sister  States.  We  arc  in  favour  of  a  suspen- 
sion of  the  act  prohibiting  our  Banks  from  issuing  Bills  under 
the  denominatian  of  five  dollars,  that  they  may  meet  the  wants 
and  convenience  of  our  citizens,  and  expel  the  foreign  circula- 
tion. 

On  the  important  subject  of  our  State  internal  improvements, 
we  beg  leave  to  call  your  attention  to  its  former  grandeur  and 
glory,  and  its  present  condition  within  our  borders.  During  the 
administration  of  Dewitt  Clinton,  our  S:ate  acquired  a  standing 
for  the  extent  of  its  public  works,  the  boldness  of  its  plans  for 
improvements,  and  the  sudden  aud  successful  completion  of  their 
important  details,  worthy  of  its  population  and  resources,  and 
placing  it  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  noble  example  and  proud  results  of  this  great  employ- 
ment of  our  ample  means  and  credit,  have  stimulated  our  sis- 
ter states  to  improve  their  territories  and  the  means  of  inter- 
communication, and  emulate  us  in  the  honorable  career  of  ad- 


29 


vancement.  But  in  the  mean  time  the  mighty  and  once  active 
energies  of  our  State  seemed  to  have  become  paralized ;  the 
works  lately  undertaken  although  of  an  important  local,  are 
wanting  in  a  general  character  ;  and  our  neighboring  State  Penn- 
sylvania has  continued  her  gigantic  efforts,  undaunted  by  the 
obstacles  of  nature,  unmindful  of  the  doubts  of  the  timid,  and 
regardless  of  the  sneers  and  reproaches  of  the  envious  and  mis- 
judging, until  she  has  become  a  powerful  rival  and  dangerous 
competitor  for  the  trade  of  the  great  West.  Her  Statesmen  have 
most  justly  estimated  her  resources,  and  the  rapid  developement 
of  her  wealth  and  revenues  ;  and  they  have  not  paused  in  the 
discharge  of  their  high  and  patriotic  duties,  to  conciliate  or  ap- 
pease the  factious  or  the  designing ;  no  petty  jealousies  or  dis- 
trust of  her  citizens  or  her  strength  has  relaxed,  her  devotion  to 
the  public  welfare  and  her  rapid  progress,  now  call  upon  the  cit- 
izens of  New- York  to  decide  whether  the  "Empire  Slate"  shall 
take  a  second  rank  in  the  confederacy; — we  feel  proudly  con- 
fident of  the  response  our  fellow  citizens  will  make  on  this  sub- 
ject. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  the  Sub-Treasury  scheme  is  to  be  re- 
commended within  our  own  State,  although  we  have  seen  some 
Resolutions  of  the  loco  foco's  calling  for  it  here.  We  cannot 
view  but  with  abhorrence  the  proposition  to  collect  the  taxes 
from  our  farmers,  the  Canal  Revenues,  Auction  and  Salt  duties, 
and  interest  on  the  Bonds  and  Mortgages,  constituting  the  State 
funds,  in  Gold  and  Silver  only,  and  to  withdraw  it  from  the 
people  and  hoard  it  in  strong  boxes. 

We  conclude  this  address  by  again  recurring  to  the  distinc- 
tive principles  of  the  Democratic  Republican  party  as  derived 
from  its  early  organization  and  practices,  and  the  necessity  of 
proclaming  and  adhering  to  those  principles  from  which  the  loco 
focos  would  have  drawn  us.  In  repeating  our  unwavering  de- 
termination to  maintain  and  defend  these  great  "Essential  prin- 
ciples" of  our  government,  we  may  say  in  the  language  of  James 
Madison  "It  is  a  contest  which  appeals  for  its  support  to  every 
"  motive  that  can  animate  an  uncorrupted  and  enlightened  peo- 
"  pie  to  the  love  of  Country,  to  the  Pride  of  Liberty,  to  an  emu- 
"  lation  of  the  glorious  founders  of  independence,  by  a  successful 
"  vindication  of  its  violated  attributes,  and  to  the  sacred  obliga- 


30 


"  tion  of  transmitting  entire  to  future  generations,  that  precious 

"  patrimony  of  national  rights  and  independence  which  is  held 
"■in  trust  by  the  present,  from  the  goodness  of  Divine  Provi- 
"  deuce." 


M.  M.  aUACKENBOS,  President. 


Preserved  Fish, 
James  N.  Wells, 
John  Delaraater, 
Henry  P.  Robertson, 
Gideon  Lee, 
Edward  Sandford, 
Andrew  C.  Wheeler, 
Ezra  S.  Connor, 
John  R.  Rhinelander, 
Frederick  A.  Gay, 
Effingham  H.  Warner, 
William  H.  Tyack, 
Daniel  Jackson, 
George  Greer, 
William  Timpson, 
George  Mills, 
Wm.  B.  VanNortwick, 
John  C.  Bergh, 
Cornelius  C.  Jacobus, 


VICE  PRESIDEN 

Judah  Hammond, 
Joseph  Meeks, 
Samuel  Swartwout, 
Benjamin  C.  Gale, 
WTilliam  L.  Morris, 
Levi  Cook, 
Uzal  P.  Ward, 
Benjamin  Birdsall, 
Isaac  Adriance, 
Daniel  Howell, 
Elijah  W.  Nicholls, 
Isaac  Lucas, 
Burr  Wakeraan, 
John  G.  Rohr, 
John  J.  Cisco, 
James  Harriott, 
Willett  Seaman, 
Richard  H.  Winslow, 
James  B.  Murray, 


John  Harlow, 

Isaac  H.  Underhill, 

Henry  Anderson, 

Edward  Jenkins, 

George  Sharpe, 

John  Harris, 

Amos  Palmer, 
Peter  S.  Titus, 
Stuart  F.  Randolph, 

John  R.  Peters, 
Andrew  Lockwood, 
James  D.  Oliver, 
Anthony  Woodward, 
James  C.  Stoneall, 
James  B.  Douglass, 
James  Dusenbury, 
Henry  D.  Gale, 
William  H.  Peck,  and 
Isaac  Townsend. 


Charles  O'Conner, 
A.  B.  Haxtun, 
S.  Jones  Mumford, 
Elbridge  G.  Stacy, 
O.  A.  Millard, 


SECRETARIES. 

George  W.  Soule, 
Mortimer  Demott, 
William  A.  Smith, 
Luther  R  Marsh, 
Edwin  Townsend, 


Jacob  V.  Carmer, 
Caleb  F.  Lindsley, 
William  Wyckoff, 
Jacob  S.  Baker, 


izx  ICtbrts 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
" Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


